Capacitance and Dielectric

Definition of Capacitance
Consider two conductors as shown in Figure 26.1. Such a
combination of two conductors is called a capacitor. The
conductors are called plates. If the conductors carry charges of
equal magnitude and opposite sign, a potential difference ΔV
exists between them.
 Capacitors and Dielectrics
Capacitors
•Conductors are commonly used as places to store charge –Q
+Q
•You can’t just “create” some positive charge somewhere, you b a
have to corresponding negative charge somewhere else V

Definition of a capacitor:

•Two conductors, one of which stores charge +Q, and the

other of which stores charge –Q.
Let’s consider a capacitor formed from a pair of parallel plates as shown
in Figure 26.2. Each plate is connected to one terminal of a battery, which
acts as a source of potential difference. Let’s focus on the plate connected
to the negative terminal of the battery. The electric field in the wire
applies a force on electrons in the wire immediately outside this plate; this
force causes the electrons to move onto the plate. The movement
continues until the plate, the wire, and the terminal are all at the same
electric potential.
 Calculating Capacitance:
Isolated Capacitor:
 Calculating Capacitance:
Parallel Plate Capacitor:
Problems:
Home Work
 Energy in a Capacitor
•Suppose you have a capacitor with charge q already on it, q  C V
and you try to add a small additional charge dq to it, where
dq is small. How much energy would this take?
•The side with +q has a higher potential –q
•Moving the charge there takes energy +q
•The small change in energy is: dU   dq  V   dq  q
C
•Now, imagine we start with zero charge and build it up
dq
gradually to q = Q
•It makes sense to say an uncharged capacitor has U = 0
q Q Q Q
q dq q 2 Q2
U   dU    
C  V 
2
q 0 0
C 2C 2C Q 2
0
U 
Q2 2C 2
U Q  C V
2C
 Energy density in a capacitor
Suppose you have a parallel plate capacitor with
area A, separation d, and charged to voltage V.
(1) What’s the energy divided by the volume between the plates?
A
(2) Write this in terms of the electric field magnitude
U  2 C  V    0 A  V 2
1 2

2d
•Energy density is energy over volume
d
 0 A  V 
2 2
U U 1  V  V
u    0   E
V Ad 2 Ad 2
2  d  d
2
u  0 E
1
2

•We can associate the energy with the electric field itself
•This formula can be shown to be completely generalizable
•It has nothing in particular to do with capacitors
 Dielectrics in Capacitors
•What should I put between the metal plates of a capacitor?
•Goal – make the capacitance large
•The closer you put the plates together, the + –
bigger the capacitance 0 A + + –
C +
•It’s hard to put things close together – d + –
unless you put something between them + + + –
•When they get charged, they are also very + –
attracted to each other + + –
+
•Placing an insulating material – a dielectric – + –
allows you to place them very close together + + –
 0 A +
•The charges in the dielectric will also shift C –
d + + +
•This partly cancels the electric field + –
•Small field means smaller potential difference   1 + –
+ +
•C = Q/V, so C gets bigger too + –
 Choosing a dielectric
What makes a good dielectric?
•Have a high dielectric constant   0 A
C
•The combination 0 is also called , the d
permittivity
•Must be a good insulator
•Otherwise charge will slowly bleed away
•Have a high dielectric strength
•The maximum electric field at which the insulator
suddenly (catastrophically) becomes a conductor
•There is a corresponding breakdown voltage
where the capacitor fails
 Dipoles
•We’ve done a lot with charges in electric fields
•However, in nature, neutral combinations are much more
common than charged objects
•This doesn’t mean there are no electric effects! H+
•A dipole is any collection of 2+ charges that have no total C+ O - O-
charge, but the charge is lopsided on one side or the other H+
•Many molecules are dipoles
•The dipole moment for a pair of charges, is just a vector
equal to the charge q times the separation vector r
•For more complicated objects, it is harder
p   qi ri
+q p  qr
i

-q
r
p    rdV
 Dipoles in Uniform Electric Fields
•Electric fields are often uniform, or nearly uniform, as seen by a molecule
•After all, molecules are pretty small!
•A dipole in a uniform electric field feels no total force p 
i
qi ri
•However, there is a torque, or twisting force, on a dipole
+q
F   Fi   qi E  E qi  0
i i i r F
τ   ri  Fi   ri  qi E -q
i i
  τ  pE F
   qi ri   E
 i  τ  p E sin 
•There is also an energy associated with a dipole in an electric field
U  E  p
U   Vi qi   qi E  ri  E   qi ri
i i i
U   E p cos 
 Dipoles as Dielectrics

•In the absence of an electric field, dipoles will orient randomly in different
directions due to random thermal motion
•When you turn the electric field on, the
random motions still continue, but a
fraction of the molecules will reorient to
match the electric field
•Now there is an excess of positive charge
on the right and negative charge on the left
•This creates a weaker counter-balancing
electric field that partly cancels the
imposed field
NUMERICAL PROBLEMS